


gays just wanna have fun

by pixiegf



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Banter, Ben Hargreeves is Alive, Bisexual Diego Hargreeves, Comedy, Dancing and Singing, Diego Hargreeves-centric, Diego and Klaus dance together, Everyone Is Gay, Except Luther, Fluff, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Good Brother Klaus Hargreeves, Homophobia, Klaus Hargreeves-centric, Klaus wears a rainbow tutu, Multi, Partying, Pop Culture, Pride Parade, Sibling Bonding, Vanya is a lesbian and I gave her a sword, but you can hc him being closeted if you please, didn’t specify if Five is still in his 13 year old body or not, oh and Diego speaks a lil Spanish in this I had to do it for my fellow latinos, there's hardly a solid plot it's just the Hargreeves fam being soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-26 21:00:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18185669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pixiegf/pseuds/pixiegf
Summary: Klaus takes the gang to their first pride parade. Diego happened to have just come out as bisexual recently, so it’s fairly special for him.





	gays just wanna have fun

**Author's Note:**

> no cops at pride just Diego and his knives. (jk I actually do mention cops once or twice…)
> 
> TW: alcohol use, short description of some religious anti-gay protesters. but they nicely get handled, no worries.
> 
> thank you so much to the lovely Stuie for letting me use this prompt + Eli, Sophie and Eve. also to Yanzhima for the wicked fanart she did of Diego, inspired by the shirt that I had the idea for him to wear in this. shoutout my discord peeps love y'all :))
> 
> check Stuie's stuff out here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowhive
> 
> sidenote: I based this work in new york because I’m from there and used a few of my personal observations at past prides to write this so that it’s authentic. enjoy!

There was about an hour or so left before the most vibrant parade of the year would officially kick off, and the Hargreeves family were cruising down the pavement in a cluster underneath the blazing New York City sun. They would have been earlier to find a good spot to watch if Luther hadn’t completely shattered his very gay, very disappointed brother’s expectations of him upon presenting his outfit choice.

“Allison is decked out in rainbow sequins, Ben actually parted with his beloved hoodie for my ‘Gay Agenda’ tank top, even Five is head to toe in asexual colors and you have the audacity to come face me dressed in _plain_ _cargoes_?” Klaus nagged. “God, I’ve failed as your sibling, haven’t I? My _shoelaces_ have a trans flag design, Luther! My shoelaces!”

Granted, Vanya was wearing one of her infamous, plain button-up dad shirts, but at least it was a nice salmon pink tone, half tucked into her jean shorts and effortlessly accessorized with a cap and the mini lesbian flag she had to wave around. Even if she did go with her usual blue and black hues, Klaus would have still thought the world of it. You can’t argue with lesbian fashion. You just can’t.

Once present in Greenwich Village, otherwise known as likely the gayest neighborhood in America, they wasted a significant amount of time strolling through a strip of street vendors to find something even the slightest bit exciting for Luther to throw on. He opted for a classic t-shirt, in an extra large size of course, with the ol’ saying: _Some dudes marry dudes. Get over it._ It would do, Klaus supposed.

Ben scored some pride pins and trinkets from the vendors, Diego stopped for a shish kebab and Vanya pushed the stick of the mini pride flag she was holding into her hair behind her ear so she could buy and carry around an inflatable sword that was, for some reason, being sold. Which, okay. Bless her, Klaus thought. She deserved to have a sword.

Allison managed to purchase a feather boa that matched her look perfectly and Klaus passed some guy with a giant cooler who discreetly murmured, “Nutcrackers,” near his ear, so naturally, he bought a couple of the cheap frozen drinks off him for everybody. It was surely illegal, but Five encouraged it by using the scorching humidity as an excuse, when in reality they all knew he was just weak for a fruity cocktail.

“It’s 10am,” Diego tried to reason, but a plastic container full of a slushy red substance was cold against his palm within a matter of seconds.

On parade day, the city was like a gay colony, every inch of the streets adorned with pride decor and crawling with everyone from hairy chested BDSM enthusiasts to old lesbian moms married for decades. The sidewalks were tight with people by the time they begun to make their way down the blocks where the parade would pass, so Klaus took the lead and Diego stuck by his side. The two of them walked ahead of their siblings who’d broken off in subgroups, squeezing their way through crowds of colorful half-nude bodies.

“It’s way too hot out here,” Diego complained, wiping at his forehead and adjusting his sweaty crotch confined by the leather bondage shorts that were so kindly picked out for him. “And you know what, this tight ass shit is making it worse. How’d I let you convince me to wear these again?”

Klaus turned to his brother and his layers of jewelry jingled with his body movement. He cooed, squeezing the man’s broad shoulder for a hot second.

“Sweet, naive Diego. As a baby queer it’s about time you learn that discomfort simply means looking spectacular. Take my outfit for example. I may be itchy in all the wrong places but look at me, I’m thriving,” he bragged, swinging the flouncy rainbow colored tutu bunched around his tiny hips and subsequently making the blue, yellow and pink striped flag tied to his neck like a cape sway along with him.

Klaus was thriving indeed, appearing as if a glitter bomb had exploded over his liner-smudged eyes and down the valley of his bare chest. For a second prior to leaving for the parade, he thought of covering up with the pair of star shaped pasties that he’d bought on a whim. Ultimately, he decided that freeing the nipple would be most appropriate for today.

“Anyway, you’ve got great legs, you should show them off. What were you gonna do, wear those silly vigilante pants of yours?” he taunted. “That’d just be criminal.”

Diego scoffed in mock offense as he shuffled out of a done-up Cher impersonator’s way. “No sillier than this stupid shirt you got me.”

Klaus turned his glossy lips up in a smile, looking over to inspect the flimsy muscle tee’s emblem that was drenched in bisexual colors, two knives crossed in an _X_ with a banner wrapped around them that read _Bi-Furious_. Because what kind of brother would Klaus be if he didn’t purchase something so fitting the second he laid eyes on it? If it weren’t for the gear Diego brought along to carry his latest set of knives, and the fact that Klaus practically dressed the man himself, he’d probably barely recognize him.

“I think it looks lovely,” he smiled with a firm pat to Diego’s pecs. “I cut the sleeves off it myself, you know. You should appreciate me more. Gave everyone free tickets to your gunshow.”

Diego playfully rolled his eyes and brushed off the comment. Truth be told, he was miles away from resenting any of the clothing he had on. In the realm of confidence, however, he just wasn’t quite there yet.

It had only been a few weeks since he’d come out, and he was the last of the group to do so, with the exception of straighter-than-uncooked-spaghetti Luther. (…Well, as far as he was aware anyway).

He began the conversation as an awkward exchange over dinner but gave up midway when the rest weren’t catching on as quickly as he wanted, and in true Diego fashion, ended up stabbing his new holographic pride knife into the table and groaning, “Jesus Christ, I’m bisexual, you asshats. Alright? I’m bisexual.”

The only one who flinched was Allison, elated to know that two of them were now the bi duo of the family. And Diego understood, because if he was being honest with himself, it did feel as though he were finally RSVPing to an LGBT invite that was long overdue.

Diego admired the courage of all his siblings to be out and proud, but the one person he really always wished he could be as free as, was Klaus. There weren’t many men he knew who could go out in public with their ass cheeks nearly slipping out of a tutu, much less reek his kind of confidence while doing so. He figured it had a bit less to do with his queerness, and a bit more to do with his Klausness. 

“You should think of me as your beautiful, magical, pan-tastic fairy godparent for all things gay,” Klaus continued while they crossed a street. Diego made a face that caused him to backtrack. “What, too much? Not a fairy? Okay, fine. Gay mentor?”

Diego scrunched his nose in distaste and Klaus grunted, looking back to see the three siblings that followed his number in their own separate walking and talking conversation.

“Guys,” Klaus called out behind him over the bellowing Britney Spears song in the distance, forcing Five, Six and Seven into the foolish banter. “Don’t you think my role as gay mentor for Diego is an absolute necessity?” 

“You as a mentor? No. You’d be terrible,” Five responded at the same volume, pushing his purple aviators up on his nose with a dimpled grin. “No offense.” He raised the illegally acquired liquor that was still in his grasp and searched for the straw with his tongue, casually sucking up the lime flavor.

Klaus’ face contorted into a grimace. Nonetheless, Ben nodded in agreement with Five. “If you’re gonna have a gay mentor you should go for me, Di,” he suggested. “But I do think I'd prefer more of an elegant title. Like… I don’t know, master of gays.”

“Bisexual Buddha?” Allison chimed in over Ben’s shoulder. “I could be of assistance!”

Whipping back around to face ahead, Klaus mumbled something under his breath about never coming to them for backup again. Diego grinned.

“Wow! You two are a couple of beauties,” interrupted a sudden voice from someone moving in the opposite direction, touching Klaus’ wrist to get his attention as they walked by. “Looking amazing.”

“Oh why thank you gorgeous! You have a marvelous day,” Klaus purred, obtaining a delicate grip on their fingers before they slipped away.

Diego glanced back, puzzled albeit flattered, then looked over at a nonchalant Klaus. “Did you know that person?”

“What? No,” he laughed. “Your second lesson in pride etiquette, my little grasshopper: innocent, loving interactions between strangers are completely normal. In fact, they’re encouraged. We’re family, baby. Soak it in.”

Diego stared at Klaus as if literally giving the words time to soak in. It was safe to say that the Hargreeves’ sense of familial bonds were a bit convoluted growing up. Most of them were still in the process of sorting that part of themselves out. Klaus was different, though. Nowadays he seemed to latch onto those feelings so easily, so open to offering love and receiving love like he couldn’t get or give enough. 

Klaus was admirable in general as a good human being, but Diego would never admit it out loud with no real reason to do so. He ripped his eyes away from his brother to toss his empty drink into a nearby bin.

“Look, there’s some space for us right down there,” Allison called from behind them. Klaus ran over to secure the spot and leaned against the barricade as his siblings piled beside and behind him.

They kept themselves busy by bopping to the echoing dance instrumentals and making friends with the parade-goers around them until a couple of cop cars coasted past, signaling the start. Flocks of people came down the road first, waving their flags and advocacy signs, marching bands and drag performers as far as the eye could see.

Some marchers brought the bigger issues under their belt, like the ones fighting for Planned Parenthood and those commemorating the revolutionary Stonewall Riots, while others brought the party: the brunette showgirls candy thongs, stilt walkers, and that one curvy twink with a staggering amount of fearlessness who made a show of twerking on a police officer.

Floats began to follow shortly after, rolling down slow between batches of people and blasting pop music of every sort. One marcher vogued in the siblings’ direction and Klaus was compelled enough to jump the barricade and vogue along with them, earning encouraging shouts and cackles from his siblings.

Surprisingly, Luther may have been the most entertained by his brother’s antics of them all, Klaus realized, after hearing his booming laughter when he wedged his scuffed up Chuck Taylors through the gaps of the metal bars to stand up on the contraption and screech, “Woohoo! Pan rights!” at a picket sign reading, ‘Hearts, Not Parts’.

For a while, Klaus was so focused on living in his own world, jumping and yelling and grooving from the sidelines that he’d almost forgotten to check in on his newbie mentee, Diego.

He was slightly hunched over when Klaus turned to inspect him, elbows on the barricade as he watched a gaggle of speedo clad men in awe, cupping a hand around his mouth to amplify his cheers. He almost looked young, wearing a similar expression that Klaus could assume he himself had on when he’d seen the parade on television for the first time as a kid.

It may’ve been everyone but Klaus’ first pride parade, but he knew this day was most jarring for Diego. It wasn’t just his first pride. It was his first purposeful outing as an out bisexual, the part of him he’d been suppressing for most of his life.

“Hey,” Klaus said softly. Or, as softly as he was able to with all the noise being made. “Feeling good?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m great, man,” he smiled. “It’s different. But I’m great.”

Klaus returned the smile then looked down at his own half-empty beverage that had for the most part melted from its original frozen state.

“Finish this,” Klaus insisted as he passed it over, waiting a beat before speaking again. “Come on, down it quick. You need it more than I do.”

Diego laughed in slight concurrence and pulled off the top to gulp down the remainder of what was left in Klaus’ cup.

“Thaaaat’s my boy,” his brother praised with a slap to his back. “I mean you’re in the middle of the Big Apple surrounded by gays galore, Diego, I need every ounce of energy you have!”

As if on cue, an oncoming float began to blare out of its speakers the beginning chords of what was possibly the greatest disco hit of the ‘70s.

_At first I was afraid, I was petrified_

_Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side_

“Oh, perfect,” Klaus sighed. “Put that thing down and dance with me.”

“Huh?”

_But then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong,_

_And I grew strong_

Klaus slipped the plastic out of Diego’s hand and set it at their feet, replacing the container with his own hand and giving him a small tug just ahead of the beat drop.

_And I learned how to get along.._

“Dance with me!” he urged.

_And so you're back,_

_From outer space_

He turned to the rest of his siblings while doing a one-two step and gestured wildly with his free hand. “Dance, all of you, come on— Five, you know you want to!”

Five flinched back when Klaus signaled toward him. “I support you, but don’t even think about it.”

_I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face.._

Klaus dismissed him with a wave and took Diego’s other hand to force him into somewhat of a push-and-pull of the arms jig, bouncing his narrow shoulders along to the rhythm and singing terribly off-key.

“ _I should have changed that stupid lock, I should have made you leave your key_ — Don’t act like you don’t know it, Diego!”

The second Hargreeves couldn’t hold back his stupid smile. Klaus looked absolutely ridiculous, the sparkles splattered on his skin shining in the sunlight and his flag cape catching in the warm breeze with every hop of his body. Maybe he was right earlier, Diego thought. Maybe he _was_ like a gay fairy, given the amount of things he was magically convincing him to do today.

_If I'd known for just one second you'd be back to bother me…_

“ _Go on now, go_ ,” Diego finally sang in his low voice. “ _Walk out the door!_ ”

“There you go!”

Without pulling away, Diego brought one of his hands up, taking it upon himself to twirl his brother around in a circle right on time for the lyric: _Just turn around now, ‘cause you're not welcome anymore._

The fluffy material of his skirt expanded when it spun with him and he guffawed at the act, looking back to see if anyone else caught that picture-perfect moment, but no one had. Ben, Allison, and Vanya were attempting some sort of three-way hip bump while Luther encouraged them and Five moved his head, mouthing every word of the Gloria Gaynor classic.

_Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye?_

_Do you think I'd crumble? Did you think I'd lay down and die?_

_Oh no, not I, I will survive_

_Oh, as long as I know how to love, I know I'll stay alive_

The siblings belted the lyrics out to one another as the float conveniently came to a halt in front of them and Klaus copied what Diego had done to him previously, turning his brother around in a little less of a smooth manner, but with about the same charm.

_I've got all my life to live,_

_And I've got all my love to give, and I'll survive,_

_I will survive, hey, hey_

The pair parted at the musical break into separate moves, Diego with a subtle disco finger and Klaus doing his own rendition of the hustle like nobody was watching.

It was the beginning of a cocoon-like moment for Diego, a day his brother only wanted to end in a full fledged metamorphosis into the butterfly he knew he was. The light buzz he was feeling may have helped, but the brooding boy really made his biggest personal stride thus far after an organization of LGBTQ Latinos came down the path later on.

He was the only one of the group singing to the bass heavy reggaeton tune that played without missing a single Spanish word or showing a hint of shame, to which Vanya commented that she hadn’t heard him sing since the short-lived band they formed together as kids. His dancing was subdued yet suave enough to get all of the Hargreeves to acknowledge the cracks in his shell; the tough facade melting away to reveal the dork they always felt was lurking beneath.

A few feet from them, a drag queen with the biggest hair and flashiest headpiece they’d seen yet could be spotted strutting in her six-inch heels, waving a Mexican flag and touching hands down the line of the barricaded crowd in greeting. She carried herself with such elegance, one could almost feel each individual person become enamored after she’d passed by.

When it came time for her to approach and make contact with Diego, he ran his thumb over her knuckles and boldly pressed a kiss to her olive skin there. “¡Que hermosa!” he complimented, earning a pearly white smile from her.

“¡Gracias, papi!” she exclaimed. “¡Diviértete!”

The gang was impressed with how naturally this out-Diego functioned. It wasn’t everyday that they got to witness this warm, lively version of himself, much less with a random queen on the street. He seemed to be having a much better time than he’d anticipated. Despite the hot weather and their achy feet, they all were. The ability to recall the last time they enjoyed each other’s company so much might’ve even been a near impossible task, and Klaus was swelling with bliss.

—————————

Around the parade’s halfway point, Klaus was waving around a ‘Black Trans Lives Matter’ poster given out to him by a marcher and happily drifting off into a brief daydream. He admired the bright faces of the pride participants, picturing himself in the midst of all that enchanting commotion for some time, until he finally zoned back in to speak his thoughts aloud.

“I think I wanna march next year,” he announced. “Wouldn’t you guys love to march in this thing?”

Ben shrugged in response. “Maybe. Might have to get really drunk to be able to do it though.”

“I don’t know Klaus, it seems exhausting,” Vanya chuckled shyly, only half-joking.

He could guess that his spotlight loving movie star sister Allison would, but she was much too busy signing a fangirl’s tits to answer. Either way, Klaus only had time to frown for a split second.

“I’d march with you,” Diego piped up.

With a subtle cock of his head in his direction, Klaus visually softened at the sentiment.

“You’d march with me?”

He didn’t exactly know why he asked again. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe him. He did. Closeted Diego would have probably offered to march with him too, but the twinkle in his eyes wouldn’t have been the same. Out-and-proud Diego was new.

“Yeah, why not? Could be fun.”

Klaus somehow smiled and pouted simultaneously, reaching over and gently enclosing his brother in an awkward hug around his shoulders from the side of his body.

“Well don’t get all mushy about it,” he complained.

“I can’t help it,” Klaus faux sobbed into his neck. “My little bisexual prince is gonna march his little bisexual heart out. That’s beautiful.”

Diego fed into his brother’s dramatics, rubbing his bare back fondly with a single palm.

“Alriiiiight, enough, feelings over.” Diego tensed up, attempting to ease away from the embrace. “And if you call me little one more time today I’m kicking your ass.”

Klaus hummed and respected his wishes. He pulled his arms from Diego and moved his attention to the others who he presumed were becoming restless much like himself.

“How are we doing, my darlings?” the glittery man asked. “Up for food and more day drinking? I know some folks at a bar nearby.”

“Sounds good,” Luther replied.

Ben’s features twisted in lighthearted annoyance at Number One. “Shut up, _straighty,_ no one asked you,” he spat, his exaggeratedly disgusted face falling at the sight of Klaus and being replaced with a smile. “Yeah, sure, sounds good.”

Klaus gave the sign he was holding over to an empty-handed teenager and pushed out of his spot through the crowd that had gathered behind them, once again taking the lead.

The walkway was twice as packed in comparison to that morning, leaving no room for conversation until they’d finally made it out of the streets with the most traffic. They weren’t far from their destination when Ben frantically nudged Diego with his elbow and pointed in the distance at some people up ahead.

“Check it out,” he said in a grave tone. The pack of siblings seemed to utter their noises of displeasure in unison after catching the unfortunate sight.

It was none but three audacious individuals standing beside each other, two of them working together to hold up a cheaply made banner painted with a phrase using the f-slur and the third of them standing to the left of it, preaching a load of garbage about gays being damned to hell into a megaphone. The small group was already being jeered at by onlookers. They could have been close to giving up any minute now, but that didn’t stop Diego from looking like he was preparing to brawl.

“They’ve got some nerve coming out here today,” he growled, clenching his jaw and puffing out his chest on instinct.

“Let's pickpocket them,” Klaus suggested, a statement every one of his brothers and sisters decided to ignore.

“Don’t say anything, Diego, don’t even give them the satisfaction,” Vanya told him. “Let’s just keep walking.”

“Oh, I don’t have to say anything.”

Immediately, he pulled a rainbow knife from the pocket at his side that carried them, small but sharp as ever, then angled and tossed it before anyone could protest. The blade went flying, its colors glimmering in the sun as it ripped straight down the middle of the banner and tore it in half. 

A collective gasp of joy and hushed laughter from passersby followed, and Diego jogged over when his precious knife clattered on the gravel.

“That’d be mine,” he smiled, bowing in front of the bigots to pick it up and slide it back into its rightful place for safe keeping. “Ouch, shame about your sign, fellas. Guess it’s time to pack up.”

Out of nowhere, Five appeared with a flash of blue light, snatching the megaphone from the man who held it and speaking into it right up against his ear. “That means fuck off.”

The rest of the bunch caught up just as Five dropped the megaphone to the ground, pulling him and Diego from the scene and off to turn the next corner. 

“Are you two insane?” Allison lectured.

“Those guys could’ve been armed for all you knew,” Luther added.

Ben snickered and patted Five on the shoulder. “I don’t know, I thought it was kinda cool.”

“Kinda?!” Klaus shouted, throwing his arm around Diego and speaking through giggles. “It was gold! Their faces!”

“You guys can’t say that wasn’t cool,” Ben continued. “Vanya?”

She smiled and nodded meekly as if she were embarrassed to admit it. Luther glanced at Allison to exchange looks with her and fought back a smile of his own.

“It was kind of cool.”

Diego looked over and gave Luther a single nod. “Thanks, brother. I mean it’s not like the assholes didn’t deserve something ten times worse. I was being tame.”

“Did anyone see that one guy’s pants by chance?” Klaus asked out of the blue, making the man he was holding sigh in exasperation. "Ridiculous, weren't they?"

“Another example of why you shouldn't trust people who wear corduroy,” Diego said.

—————————

The afternoon was taken up by consistent bar and restaurant hopping, followed by a walk near the stunning Christopher Street Pier where Klaus and Vanya teamed up to unleash their historical knowledge onto their siblings on what the queer scene was like there back in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

By the late evening, through what Klaus called his “gay connects,” which remained to be a mystery, the group ended up at some glitzy rooftop party overlooking Manhattan. Luther was both incredibly wasted and completely shirtless, and Klaus may or may not have been bitter when he noticed how his brother was being hit on by more cute strangers than he was.

Apparently, the man’s stiff crab dance and corny sprinkler move must have been a real babe magnet. Luther’s party persona was nothing but an oafish 19-year-old frat bro trapped in a grown man’s body, and yet several women could be found attempting to grind their scantily clad bodies with his at the same time. It wasn’t very sexy; more so cringeworthy over all else.

“I’m too ace for this nonsense,” Five said with a shake of his head after witnessing it, zapping away into thin air with an empty drink and returning a few moments later with a refill.

“Uh, rude,” Ben breathlessly griped beside him, in the middle of a dance battle to The B-52’s ‘Love Shack’, that he was obviously losing. “You could’ve brought two.”

He was beginning to question why he’d even agreed to make this a competition in the first place. Poor Ben was no match for Diego sober, never mind drunk Diego who decided to pull out his overzealous running man and those slick arm waves that put his brother's cabbage patch to shame.

Meanwhile, Allison was shimmying and body rolling her life away with fans by the dozen. She’d lost count of how many partiers rushed up to her asking for selfies, because frankly she was feeling so loose that she’d been saying yes to all of them.

Vanya, too tipsy for her own good, was standing on a table with a pretty short-haired girl she met when they’d first arrived and flinging her limbs around to the ‘80s jam in the usual robotic way she did, granting her sister some relief from her cloud of newfound groupies by pulling her up to join them.

Klaus was the one person of them all who couldn’t stay in one spot for long. One second he was spinning and flailing ever so gracefully near his brothers and the next he was thrashing his lanky body to and fro with someone he’d never met.

Usually he could be counted on to keep the night alive and going, but after such a long day of actively trying to be responsible by ensuring he was the most sober Hargreeves, Klaus could feel himself begin to burn out after a solid hour or two of nonstop prancing and checking in on his siblings.

He stumbled over to the ledge of the rooftop and rested his arms on it, staring out at all the taxis and buildings and ant-sized New Yorkers. His fingertips pressed into the glass of his whiskey sour and a gust of summer air tangled his nest of hair around. The gap of alone time was peaceful, however it didn’t last very long before an interruption.

“I never thanked you,” said a voice from behind him, one he instantly recognized as Diego’s. He looked up from out of his daze and blinked at his brother who occupied the empty space next to him and mirrored the way he was leaning.

It was dark out now and the city prevented any stars in the sky from coming into view. Luckily, Diego’s face was illuminated by the glow of the surrounding blacklights. Klaus gathered that he had just taken a shot or two because his pupil blown eyes were glossed with water. The guy never did have the highest tolerance.

“Thank me?” Klaus chuckled under his breath. “Thank me for what?”

“For welcoming me like you have after I came out. For making me feel apart of this whole thing…. the gay thing. Or bi thing.”

Klaus chuckled again and averted his gaze. “You’re drunk,” he murmured, sipping from his glass and sighing from the burn in his throat.

“So what?” Diego countered. He gestured back and forth between them. “I’m initiating a moment here.”

“A _moment_ ,” Klaus mocked. His brother was so horrible at navigating how to healthily express his emotions that he couldn’t even manage it while intoxicated. It was sweet.

“I’m serious, man,” Diego insisted. Klaus saw his head turn away in his periphery and heard him clear his throat. “It means a lot, I guess… to have someone to guide you through some shit that used to scare you. And I don’t just mean the way you helped me open up today. It’s other things, too.”

Klaus’ interested eyes flitted to his brother and Diego's did the same.

“I still have those bullshit habits. That whole ‘hetero-normal’ thing that you talk about—“

“Heteronormative,” Klaus corrected with a grin.

“Whatever, yeah, that. I hid for a long ass time so I got used to the straight game… but I always noticed that you never assumed anything with me. With anybody,” he went on. “Whenever you heard I was dating someone new you’d refer to them as ‘the person’ I was seeing, not ‘the girl’.”

His voice was like melted butter, spreading smoothly over the thumping beat that had now become background music to them. “Remember when we were twelve and I told you in private that I liked how your nails looked when you painted them? You never made a big deal about it, you just offered to paint mine. We snuck away from dad while he was busy training Luther so you could do it and you wiped it off right after. Remember that?”

Klaus had to dig for that memory. He smiled when he recalled it, nodding his head in silence so as to encourage him to keep going.

“When we were sixteen I asked you what it was like to be with guys. I thought you’d laugh it off, but you didn’t. You took the time to talk about it and didn’t tell a soul either. That was a big deal for me,” Diego admitted, looking his brother dead in the eyes. “You’re trustworthy. You make people feel safe. So, thanks… for that.”

Hearing Diego bare his heart was so foreign that Klaus was finding it difficult to do anything else but stand there, speechless and beaming. Diego took a pause to slip the drink out of Number Four’s grasp. 

“It’s something I’m trying to pick up on,” he added.

He shrugged and brought the glass to his lips for a taste, then gave it back.

“Hold the phone,” Klaus finally said. “Pick up on? Does that mean Sir Big Tough Knife Warrior suddenly wants to be like me?” He pointed to his own chest. “…Me? The ex-junkie idiot nutjob?”

“I always wanted to be like you, Klaus,” he confessed. The absence of the sound of their voices lingered and mixed with Klaus’ wordless, pleasant shock. “Well not exactly like you. Don’t flatter yourself, you’re still a nutjob. You know what I mean.”

Klaus threw his head back in roaring laughter and latched onto his brother by the arm.

“I know. Come let me buy you a beer you big sappy lug.”

It occurred to Klaus as they passed through their siblings’ vicinity to get to the bar that he could have rounded them up to join, but he decided against it after seeing them in the middle of having a blast on the dancefloor.

Besides, he liked it this way. One-on-one time with Diego might’ve been his favorite.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading please do leave something kind <3


End file.
